


In the Mirror

by TheVioletSunflower



Category: Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe - Fannie Flagg
Genre: Coming Out, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Trans Character, a bit of hurt/comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-14
Updated: 2020-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:14:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23146027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheVioletSunflower/pseuds/TheVioletSunflower
Summary: "You trying to be a man, Idgie Threadgoode?""Maybe. What are you going to do about it?"
Relationships: Ruth Jamison/Idgie Threadgoode
Comments: 4
Kudos: 53





	In the Mirror

**Author's Note:**

> Don't know if anybody but me still cares about this book/movie but I had an idea and it wouldn't go away til I got it down.  
> This is from Ruth's POV. She uses she pronouns for Idgie at the beginning, switching to he toward the end. If that triggers dysphoria for you, don't read.

Ruth was on her way into the bedroom carrying a basket of newly washed clothes, but when she saw Idgie was in the room she stopped and leaned against the doorway to watch her. Idgie was standing in front of their mirror, wearing a plaid shirt, suspenders, and a hat that Ruth suspected had once belonged to Idgie’s father. She was grinning, turning this way and that to admire her reflection, and Ruth felt a warm and gentle affection swell in her heart at the sight of her wife looking so pleased with herself. It was a small and intimate moment. Nothing big in the grand scheme of things. But it was so Idgie that Ruth could hardly contain the love in her heart.

“You trying to be a man, Idgie Threadgoode?” Ruth teased, stepping into the room properly.

Idgie jumped. It seemed she hadn’t known she was being watched. She regained her composure quickly and smiled at Ruth, though Ruth couldn’t help feeling the smile looked more forced than it usually did. “Done with the washing then?”

“Thought I’d come in here to fold it,” she said, sitting on the edge of the bed and pulling a shirt out of the basket. “You all right Idgie?”

“Course I’m all right. I’m always all right.”

“Idgie.”

Idgie kicked at the floor, biting her lip.

“Idgie, you were looking so happy and then I spoke and now you’re jumpy as anything. What’s the matter? You can tell me. It’s all right.”

Idgie sat down on the other side of the basket and absently wrapped a pair of socks into a ball. Ruth didn’t comment on the poor folding job, but did make a mental note to re-fold them later.

After a long silence, Idgie finally spoke. “Don’t know you’ll be happy with what I got to say. May even want to pack up and leave or call your preacher to exorcise me or something.”

Ruth couldn’t help laughing at that. Idgie did have a tendency to be rather dramatic. But at the stricken look on Idgie’s face she stopped. “You serious? Idgie Threadgoode, there is nothing you could say to me that would make me want to do a thing like that.”

Idgie smiled a bit at that but still didn’t meet Ruth’s eye. “Even if I tell you that you got it right?”

“Got what right?”

A deep breath. “That I’m trying to be a man. That I wear these clothes and gamble and drink and hang around Grady and the rest of the gang cause I’m trying to be like them? Yeah. I want to be a man.”

Ruth froze, staring at Idgie over the hem of the shirt she was holding up.

Idgie crossed her arms across her chest. “Well? What you going to do about it?”

Ruth slowly lowered the shirt into her lap. “I- I’m not sure. What do you want me to do about it?”

“Well ain’t you gonna lecture me? Tell me I’m crazy and the Good Lord don’t make mistakes and he made me a woman so I can’t possibly be a man?”

“Oh Idgie…”

Idgie just stared down at the floor with an intensity that Ruth suspected meant she was holding back tears. She reached across to place a hand on her elbow. “Come on. Take my hand. Good. There you go. Now. I’m not going to yell at you, but I am going to tell you what I think.”

Idgie nodded, swallowing hard.

“All right. Well you’re right about one thing. I believe that the Lord doesn’t make mistakes.”

She nodded again. “Right. Of course. Sorry I brought it up. I’ll just- I’ll just go then.

She made to stand up, but before she could, Ruth tugged her hand, holding her down on the bed. “Idgie Threadgoode you listen to what I have to say! You do not get to decide what I think on this or any other subject you hear?”

Idgie jumped at the fierceness of her words, but stayed put, nodding.

“Good. Now, as I was saying. The Lord doesn’t make mistakes. So if he made you a woman with a man’s soul I reckon he did it on purpose. And who am I to criticize something God made?”

Idgie stared at her, mouth hanging open slightly. “You- Oh.”

“Yes. Now, are you quite done with those silly running away notions?”

Idgie nodded silently, still staring.

Ruth nodded and turned her attention back to the laundry. “Good. Well then. It’s been a while since I had a husband, but I think I still remember how to do it.”

“I’m not going to be like Frank! That asshole didn’t deserve a moment of your time!”

“Oh I know that. That’s not what I meant. I know you won’t be anything like him. You’re twice the man he ever was.”

When Idgie didn’t respond, Ruth looked over. “What?”

“You- Nobody ever called me a man before. Nobody who meant it anyway.”

Ruth smiled. “You like it?”

He nodded desperately. “Say it again?”

She put down the laundry and reached over to take his hand again. “You’re a man, Idgie Threadgoode. A good man. An impossibly stubborn man, but I love you for it. More than you can possibly know.”

“Oh. I- I love you too.”

She smiled. “Now, I would very much like to kiss my husband. If that’s all right with him?”

Idgie all but launched himself over the piles of folded clothes to kiss her. They fell in a heap on the bed, both laughing and crying as they held each other close. And they knew everything would be okay.


End file.
